Bateman was cast as "Hess" in CBS's "Incident of a Burst of Evil" episode of the western series Rawhide. He also guest starred as a young engineer in the episode "The Tree" of CBS's Lassie, as well as two episodes of Perry Mason: Roy Dowson in "The Case of the Bashful Burro" in 1960, and defendant and title character Jeff Bronson in the 1961 episode, "The Case of the Guilty Clients."